Storms Bring Needed Snow, High Avalanche Danger

PARK CITY, Utah– Storms brought critically needed snow to Utah’s mountains and resorts, but with it came increased danger in the backcountry.

The avalanche threat from Logan to Provo was listed as high on Wednesday. 

The Utah Avalanche Center sent out a warning to stay out of the backcountry. 

“The problem with this snow, it came with some very strong winds,” said avalanche forecaster Craig Gordon. “Basically, what we did is we put strong snow on a house of cards. We flip one of those cards over and now the entire roof crashes down on us.”

That’s one of the reasons the avalanche center posted a video on Facebook showing the site of deadly avalanches over the weekend in the Park City backcountry.  

This helps them to investigate what went wrong and also helps get out word of current conditions.

“Technology has really helped us to get our messages out in the forefront and into the public eye,” said Gordon. 

As a result of the deadly avalanche and another in January, Park City Ski Resort closed entrances to the backcountry. 

“In the aftermath of recent tragedies outside our resort boundary, we have closed the backcountry access points until further notice,” said Jessica Miller with Park City Mountain in a written statement to KSL TV.   

Gordon said he understands why that happened. 

“Part of your avalanche tool kit needs to be avoidance,” he said.